


Dance With Me

by Jaelijn



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Dancing, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Misunderstandings, Season/Series 02, but only a miniscule amount
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 12:13:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12342495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaelijn/pseuds/Jaelijn
Summary: "Dance with me?"





	Dance With Me

“Dance with me?”

Vila spluttered and nearly choked on his drink. “Dance?”

Avon smiled down at him, his hand held open in invitation. “That still seems to be the proper term.”

“ _Can_ you dance?”

Avon shrugged. “Not particularly well, but then I suspect neither can you. I learned once, but…” Avon trailed off, a shadow flickering behind his eyes, but it disappeared before his smile could fade. “At any rate, I wasn’t aware this was a competition of skill.”

Vila carefully set his glass down. “Avon, are you feeling all right?”

Avon’s smile only broadened. “Perfectly.”

“What if I say no?”

“Ah.” At last, the smile faltered. “Then I suppose I shall sit back down and continue to watch from the side lines.” Avon broke eye contact and settled the hand he had been offering to Vila on the backrest of his chair. He didn’t sit back down, but the silence that hung over the two of them was suddenly palpable even in the general hubbub.

Vila watched it all for a moment, taking in the members of the rebel group mingling by the fire. Someone had set up a portable music station, blasting banned music just loud enough to hear it clearly over the laughter. Everyone was having fun, for once. Vila remembered this kind of defiance against the Federation from the Delta sections of his childhood in the domes. Grades seemed to matter little here, even less, Vila thought, than it sometimes did on the _Liberator_ , but the group that organised the music were clearly Delta – they’d roped a decent sized group into one of the traditional, chaotic, purely joyful circle dances that worked better the less skill the participants had. Others had simply taken their partners and were twirling and swaying to the rhythm, and some solitary souls were dancing beside each other without dancing _with_ each other. Blake had been dancing with Jenna earlier, but they had gone off to find something to eat at the buffet. Cally had joined the circle-dancers with enthusiasm, and sometimes Vila could recognise her laughter in the din. Vila had got himself a drink and had joined Avon on the chairs by the outer edge of the circle of light. There were others sitting down for chats, too, and generally the atmosphere was quieter – somehow, the party seemed excessive for such a small success, even if Vila liked a good party. He could understand it, though – the Delta parties had been the same. There was never much to celebrate, but that only made them celebrate all the harder.

Avon had declined to join Cally earlier when she’d gone to dance, and Vila had assumed that he just… wouldn’t. Which was fine with Vila, and seemed to suit Avon’s character, with even his tiniest movement hinting at intense control. Vila knew better than most that it was part of an illusion, that Avon could relax and get carried away in the moment, but dancing? He couldn’t even imagine Avon letting go of his body that much. He hadn’t seen Avon drink, either, but what if he had and would regret the loss of control in the morning if Vila were to accept his offer to dance now?

Vila stole a glance at Avon, who was watching the fire through the dancers. The light reflected in his dark eyes, turning the silver-grey tunic he was wearing into soft brown-orange. Avon stood still, but his fingers, resting on the backrest, were tapping to the rhythm of the music.

“I haven’t said no,” Vila said.

The fingers stilled.

“What about the others?” Vila went on.

“They’re busy elsewhere,” Avon responded softly, his voice slipping under the music, barely audible enough for Vila to hear.

Vila stood, and turned to face him. Avon was scanning his face, a non-expression on his own that might have been a glimmer of hope, a faint trace of a smile.

“Yes,” Vila said.

 Avon held his hand back out, but somehow it was Vila who pulled them closer to the fire, in among the dancing couples. The best word to describe Avon’s dancing, Vila mused later, was _attentive_. His hold on Vila was solid without being controlling or constricting. His gaze was on Vila’s face whenever he could get away with it, expression calm but laughter dancing in his eyes alongside the flickering light of the fire. His sense of rhythm was impeccably precise, his movements perhaps unpractised and occasionally clumsy, but always executed with care – care for Vila, care for the music and the rhythm and the people around them. Perhaps Avon and Vila weren’t dancing with wild abandon, but Vila still felt laughter bubble up in his throat. When Avon responded to being twirled with an ever-so-faint smile and promptly twirled Vila in turn, Vila gave up on his apprehension and threw himself wholeheartedly into the dance.

Then, like a cliché from a horrible romance viscast, the music changed, merging from a spritely joyful dance tune to a soft, contended ballad. The circle dance disbanded, or dissolved into couples, and Vila found himself standing by the fire, still hidden in the anonymity of the other dancers, staring at an Avon who was breathing rapidly, a smile curling his lips. He was still holding on to Vila’s hand.

“Uh…” Vila made to withdraw his hand, but Avon tightened his grip.

“Going somewhere?” Avon’s voice was very quiet, very gentle, not unlike the music.

“You want to keep dancing? To this?”

“Why not?”

“Avon, honestly, how much have you had to drink?”

Abruptly, Avon’s smile was gone. He didn’t drop Vila’s hand, but the hold became… less tender, more impersonal. “Nothing at all,” he hissed. “You, however, seem to have lost the last of your brain cells in that glass.”

“Come on, Avon, you can’t tell me this is ordinary behaviour for you!” Vila kept his voice down despite the mounting irritation, and pulled Avon out of the way of a gently swaying couple. “Public displays of affection? Dancing?”

A shutter seemed to fall before Avon’s eyes and he withdrew his hand. “Perhaps not. Perhaps I was merely glad to have _survived_ the day and wanted to be–” Avon broke off sharply, his teeth grinding together. He stared away from Vila into the roaring blaze of the fire. A muscle jumped in his jaw.

And Vila remembered. Remembered how narrow an escape it had been, for Avon, how very nearly that infernal security mechanism had fried him to a crisp because someone hadn’t done their job well enough to let Vila, who could have disabled it blindfolded and with a hand tied behind his back, know that it was there. How very nearly the victory they were celebrating now could have been turned into an abysmal tragedy, marred with _Avon_ ’s death. Abruptly, Vila found his frustration melting. “Avon?” he said softly, stepping closer to the other man, who was still staring, unblinkingly, into the fire.

“If you didn’t want to dance,” Avon breathed deeply, as if swallowing a _with me_ , “you only needed to say so, Vila.”

“I was going to apologise, you incorrigible…!”

Around them, the music soared to a joyful crescendo in the first refrain. There were some cheers for a couple who delved into a passionate kiss with the music, breaking apart only as the tune returned to its softer melody. When Vila looked back at Avon, he found that Avon, too, had been watching the couple.

Their eyes met.

Avon held out his hand again, and, this time, Vila took it without hesitation.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was first published as part of issue 1 of the all things B7 zine (completely free and digital) that I had the pleasure of editing, [Rebels and Fools](https://rebelsandfools.tumblr.com/post/164487288938/rebels-and-fools-issue-1). You can find the details and the download link to the first issue under that link!


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